The origin of the myriad things, the structure of the universe, the source of change, and the beginning of life are all fundamental problems requiring explanation. Yinyang thought weaves a coherent fabric of understanding that integrates these issues with what is imminent in one’s own situation. In the previous chapter, we examined how yinyang explains the basic structure of the world, in particular how the genesis of concrete things from a simple undifferentiated origin to the more complex forms, involves the interplay between the forces of yin and yang. One of the most important functions of yinyang is as a matrix to describe, guide, and structure concrete phenomena. Historically, in the third and second centuries b.c.e., yinyang classifications of spatial orientations and temporal cycles emerged and developed as an attempt to give a rational description of the world that went beyond shamanistic and magical operations. As Paul Unschuld writes, “The yinyang and Five Agents doctrines focused on the classifications and relations of the myriad things, but they conveyed the same general message as science in ancient Europe: there are laws that persist irrespective of time, space, and human or numinous beings.”

Yinyang explanation functioned as analogous to scientific accounts, although extending more broadly to encompass ethics, politics, and aesthetics, as well.